ugly building

Strip the paint and start again.  How ugly is it? have any pics?

So ugly that after I painted it I never bothered to finish it. Just been sitting on the unfinished building shelf. It was the first and last attempt at a DPM modular kit. Apparently beyond my skill level. As you can see I got pretty sloppy with the paint work at the end since I didn't like the building.

Weather like crazy and add a bunch of ivy.

Ah yes, trying to paint trim is not easy. Especially since my hands are getting a little more shakier with age.

Here are some suggestions:

1) Are the window frames / doors , removable? I would pop those out and paint them separate.

2) Paint the "window cornices" from white to a dark color. This will help in "not coloring in the lines"

3) Use acrylic paint so it can easily be removed if you mess up.

Don't write this one off as a loss. Its still has potential.

dobberman:

I agree with JDaddy - don't give up on it

1. First protect the window panes from paint.

2. You can tone down the black by lightly overspraying with ACE red oxide or Rust Oleum satin cinnamon.

3. Fill in the mortar lines using your method (I use Robert's Brick mortar).

4. Then hand paint the trim.

Between items 2 and 3 you will see a huge difference.

WRT the roof - I paint with flat black followed by a light spray of a textured paint (black with white flecks) and some N or HO scale black ballast for more texture. You will like the results.

Joe

Don't write this one off as a loss. Its still has potential.

 

Indeed it does!  Good suggestions above.

Might want to invent in several smaller brushes (0-0000) to compliment larger brushes - I probably have 20 or more and usually have 4-5 (different length & styles) on the bench for painting with Polly Scale and another 4-6 (different length & styles) for Floquil so that I can grab the right one I need at any given step as I paint.

Lots of patience while painting, too.  Steady hands take time and resting your arms on or against something good and solid helps.

I've noticed that I'm no longer as steady in the hands of late so I paint a bit of one color, set that item aside, change colors, paint something else, clean brushes, take breaks, as opposed to just sitting still and trying to just paint from start to finish.

Lastly, not all buildings are attractive,

dobermann posted:

... Do i pitch it or try to fit it in as  run down falling down building?

Don't pitch it! I'll pay for the shipping if you don't want it.....

Color choice is a biggie.  As noted above, I would redo it in a dull, weathered brick red, (if is is supposed to be a brick building) maybe toning down the window frames, and doors to a light to medium gray, attach a few heavily weathered signs, and it will look like it has been down by your tracks for half a century,   Cover all of it with "soot" in weathering, and it will fade into the scenery and look good, instead of standing out as it now does.  Architecturally, it looks like a thousand buildings across the country, none of them designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

It still has potential do not give up on it.  MicroMark has some small detail tape that you can do around a windows. From building 1/8th scale model ships I found that if you use the tape and a magnifying hood what turns out is better than you expected. My hands are shaky but I work around it. You might want to whitewash the building by applying a diluted white that is toned down, with some light gray do not use to much and then wipe it off with a soft cloth or even cotton.  I bet you will be surprised what you see when you are done. 

TBH, I like the way it looks. There are some run down industrial areas here in Akron with buildings that look like that. I'm not sure what you were going for, but I like it.

Maybe go for something like the building on the left.

There is this one too which is across the street

Well, you do have to use masking tape, patience and the like to get clean color separations here and there...BUT, I like it, as it is, sorta. It looks like a run-down, 1900's building that has had a bad paint job and color (no offense), so just go with it. As mentioned above, weather it more.  The arched window treatments were, typically, cast iron, and would be rusty with some paint remaining on a neglected building this age - so rusty-up that white, for example. Get some cheap acrylics at Hobby Lobby and have at it. It's not like you're going to, ah, mess it up. 

I like it fine. It just needs to be grouted and weathered. Darken the grout after you have rubbed it in.

I think those photos provided by ALDOVAR could be particularly helpful, when added to the advice from other voices, to make the building derelict or very old. To that, I would add these points:

1. I gave up using brushes to paint such things as window frames long tome ago. I use paint pens (available in different tip widths) instead, which are much more manageable at applying straight and narrow areas of paint. They changed a tedious process into "zip-zip!" Every "brick" building in these photos was painted with paint pens and the dib-dab-swipe-with-a-piece-of-towel approach.

2. When done re-painting the walls and windows, board-up some windows, whether the place will be derelict or not. Apply the plywood-looking covers on the outside of and over-top the frames, which is done in some places in real-life.

3. Make this building appear as a wing to another edifice; perhaps, at the rear of a principal structure.

4. Re-painting process: Let that grey remain as an old, dirty-looking grout and over-paint it lightly  with, leaving plenty of "grout" in view, a brick color. I would get a piece of facecloth or towel, make a little ball/pad of it. Dip that into a saucer of paint for the brick, dab it a bit on a nearby page of newspaper so you don't ever have a heavy coat of paint on it, and dab and lightly swipe the paint onto the brick walls. You'll get the hang of it. A light touch  works best. Use that second photo, above, as a guide.

Wear a shirt you do not care about so that when you need a quick wipe-off of the towel-piece wad, just swipe it across your chest, belly. I find this helps me have control. Actually.

FrankM.

Layout Refinements

Dobermann,

That building looks like an easy repaint. DPM strucutres are great.

Have fun reinventing it.

Alan Graziano